Museums protect images of the real world for posterity. But what about digital images? Filecoin Foundation today is committed to preserving cultural artifacts in digital form through its decentralized network technology.
The Filecoin Foundation (FF) today announced the addition of new cultural datasets to the Filecoin network from renowned organizations including the Smithsonian Institution, Flickr Foundation, Internet Archive, and MIT Open Learning.
With more than 500,000 culturally significant digital artifacts now backed up on the network, Filecoin is redefining data preservation in an age where the integrity, provenance and robustness of information are more critical than ever, Filecoin said.
Modern innovation thrives on data; it is a critical part of progress across all industries, including artificial intelligence (AI). However, as reliance on data increases, so do the risks of relying on centralized storage systems. Natural disasters, human errorAnd breakdowns can compromise access to critical information, potentially threatening the preservation of culture and history, the company noted.
Decentralized networks like Filecoin are revolutionizing the way data is stored, verified and shared. Filecoin uses cryptographic proofs to ensure data integrity, verifying that files remain intact and unchanged over time. Filecoin distributes data across a decentralized global network, ensuring that information remains accessible even if parts of the network are offline.
The new datasets uploaded to Filecoin encompass a rich range of cultural and educational resources, from some of the earliest audio recordings in history to a vast repository of photographs that capture the essence of human history. By leveraging decentralized storage infrastructure, these organizations are leading the way in a new era of digital preservation, ensuring that invaluable resources are protected for future generations. Datasets new to the network include:
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is working to upload nearly 300 digitized sound recordings of Alexander Graham Bell to IPFS and Filecoin. Famous for patenting the first practical telephone in 1876, Bell also pioneered recorded sound.
Experimental recordings from his Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C., dating from 1881 to 1889, are among the earliest recordings ever made. The surviving collection of approximately 300 records was considered unplayable until new technologies of the 21st century made listening possible.
The Flickr Foundation contributes the 1,000 most viewed images to Flickr Commons, a 17-year-old program aimed at making the photography collections of our cultural institutions more accessible to the public. Launched in 2008 with the Library of Congress, Flickr Commons now includes more than two million images from 120 cultural institutions around the world. The Flickr Commons 1k collection includes photographs from the U.S. National Archives, NASA, the Library of Congress, and the George Eastman Museum.
Internet Archive will upload the 2024 end-of-term web archive to the Filecoin network alongside previous end-of-term analytics data. Since 2008, the End of Term Web Archive project has captured and saved U.S. government websites from the end of presidential administrations. The project captures websites at three distinct points during the transition: before the election, after the election, and after the inauguration. Internet Archive Canada will support the archiving of the Canadian federal government transition in 2025.
MIT Open Learning and OpenCourseWare (OCW) have uploaded curated content to the Filecoin network, including core courses like Single variable calculation And Introduction to Algorithmsand climate and sustainability topics like Urban energy systems and policies And D-Lab Energyto meet the institution’s needs for robust, tamper-proof archiving and alternative distribution channels.
Starling Lab recently launched a 22 petabyte Filecoin storage node at the University of Southern California (USC) Libraries. Initial collections stored include portions of the USC Shoah Foundation’s visual history archives, including testimonies from atrocity survivors; several photojournalism projects; and 3D/VR scans of historic sites. Starling Lab is an academic research center based at Stanford and USC that specializes in ensuring the integrity of historical, legal and journalistic records.
These organizations work with Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web (FFDW), the non-profit sister organization of the Filecoin Foundation, which works to promote the decentralized web through education, research and development.
“Our mission is to preserve humanity’s most important information,” Marta Belcher, president of the Filecoin Foundation and FFDW, said in a statement. “We are excited to collaborate with these institutions to ensure that culturally significant datasets are permanently preserved using robust decentralized storage systems.”
The Filecoin Foundation remains committed to its mission of preserving humanity’s most important information. These new datasets highlight the transformative potential of decentralized technologies in preserving and accessing critical information, addressing the growing importance of data integrity, provenance and longevity in the digital age of today.
